Page 7 of Accepting Fate

My brothers call me the healer. I disagree since I’m not the one providing medical attention. I just provide transportation and sometimes temporary medical aid. They may be referring to the victims feeling safe to talk to me. I listen to anything they will share, whether that’s something happy to distract them from the trauma they just faced or the unfortunate torture they just endured. I think this is why I have to use my art and ride my bike. Because after years of seeing and hearing the torture placed on these individuals, it gets to me sometimes. I could go see a therapist but designing a tattoo, riding for hours through the trees, or hiking for miles up grueling inclines gives me the same release a therapist would.

I walk out of the room and hand Landon the car seat. He has become a professional at installing them. I could do it, but part of Landon’s ritual is ensuring everything is perfect. To anyone else, installing a car seat would be a menial task, but to him, it's a step in knowing this mission will be a success. Landon is the seeker. His job as a PI and previous career allows him to have connections everywhere and makes finding the victims a lot easier. His specialty is missing persons cases but sometimes he has other jobs that take him away for a few days. The friends he made at the police department and in the surrounding areas know of Landon and give him tips. No one thinks twice when he starts digging around for information. To my knowledge, they don’t know about my brothers and me. If they do, they aren’t saying anything.

We have been doing this since Noah turned seventeen. The police don’t ask questions and the families are reunited with their missing loved ones. If the case is in our hands, the families that contacted Landon know what type of outcome the abuser will be receiving, which is why they come to us in the first place.

I load up the rest of my supplies and wait by my truck for Landon to give us the go-ahead. A few minutes later, they all come out and have their game faces on. We gather in a circle and wrap our arms around each other. No one says anything but we all send up a silent plea that tonight everyone will come home safe, and the victims get the help they need. Once we are done, we step back and wait for Landon.

“Stay safe, stick to the plan, once the task is complete, we will meet here. Keep your radios on and your weapons on you at all times. If things go south, don't try to be the hero. If that means you leave someone other than your brother behind, don’t hesitate, just go. Mom would kill me if anyone got hurt. I texted the address to everyone. The house sits off of the road a little bit so kill the lights on the vehicles about a mile out. Noah and Wes wait for my call to approach the abuser, I want to ensure Gray finds the victims before Noah’s fists fly. Gray, once Noah gets his hands on the asshat, get the victims and go. If you need help, press your signal and someone will come. Love you guys.”

Landon pats each one of us on the back and gets in the Jeep. I do the same to Noah and Wes before getting behind the wheel of the truck.

I pull onto the secluded mountaintop road and kill my lights.

Noah and Landon went up the other side to ensure if this fucker tries to escape, he will run into one of us on his way down. This guy really knew where to go to hide. The closest house is about five miles down the road in both directions. The main road is just the start of his efforts to have total seclusion. Landon said the house sits about three-quarters of a mile up a gravel driveway.

The victims were last spotted at their home in Seattle about six months ago. The drive here took us over an hour, and I know Landon is probably beating himself up for not extending the search field beyond the typical fifty-mile radius around the city. In his defense, typically the captives are found relatively close to their last known location or close to the city.

This guy just really didn’t want to be found.

I roll down my window. It’s pitch black, the only light coming from the full moon in the sky. I take a deep breath and listen for any signs of movement from the driveway or house in the distance. Besides the wind whipping through the trees and the various animals running in the woods, I hear nothing which is a good sign or a signal of danger to come.

Even if an all-out war breaks out, these women will be in this truck and headed to safety and that fucker will be receiving the wrath of Wesley.

I don’t like to think of alternate outcomes for the victims. In the years we have been doing this I can recount every time we were too late and every single one haunts my nightmares.

Noah and Landon pull up opposite of me. Landon gives the signal for us to get out. I roll up my window and press the lock button on the inside of the truck. The last thing we need is my damn monster of a truck alarm giving us away.

We all meet in front of Noah’s Jeep.

“We will all go up beside the driveway. Stay in the tree line and out of sight. Chances are he has motion detectors set up and we want to give the element of surprise. Once we find the asshole, depending on the level of difficulty, Gray will take off to the victims. If you two,” pointing at Wesley and Noah, “have it under control, I will go help Gray. Everyone have their phones on silent and radios on?” Landon asks.

We all nod and make our way up the driveway. I take in my surroundings formulating a plan of exit. The easiest way will be to sprint down the driveway, but that's the obvious route and if something goes wrong, I'll be in plain sight with two very vulnerable souls. I see a dirt path weaving around trees down towards the road that has been made by some ATV.

Great, this asshole kidnaps these poor women, locks them in a shed for months, but has the time to joyride around in the woods.

“Fucking douchebag”, I whisper to myself.

The house comes to view and the lights from the inside illuminate a small area in its surrounding. I immediately begin looking for the shed.

Who in their right mind keeps a woman and her four-year-old daughter in a shed for months?

I guess this dude does or we wouldn’t be here.

Judging by his extravagant home, I assume he has money and a god complex. This guy is probably the kind of asshole who preys on women because he thinks he's got a magic dick that no one would turn down. I've seen the type so often in this line of work, especially when it comes to female victims.

This time is different because in cases of a woman being taken, if it isn’t because of the rage of being turned down, it's an ex-lover. It becomes very messy when kids get involved. According to Landon, there is no connection between the captor and captives that is publicly known.

I desperately want to know why the hell these two innocent people are here but I need to focus on getting them out alive first.

The four of us quietly set up around the perimeter of the house. The living room is visible from the picture window that looks out the front of the house into the driveway. I can see the bastard sitting with his feet up in a recliner, a beer in hand as he watches TV. He looks to be in his forties.

I’ll give it to the guy, if I saw him in a suit and tie in a bar, I could see why some women would be attracted to him. He’s fit, clean-shaven, hair perfectly tame. I think Landon mentioned that he works at some pharmaceutical company as a CEO or something.

Whatever this dick is, he still is holding two innocent people and is acting like it's a normal ass Friday night.

I remind myself to ask Landon later how this guy captured two people as I watch him be completely oblivious to Wesley and Noah sneaking up to the back sliding door. As I suspected his god complex is showing and he thinks he's untouchable because the dude left the damn door unlocked, giving Noah and Wes easy access to him.

Landon and I watch from the window as Wesley opens the door slowly.